Trim panel



May 5, 1936. G. E. GAGNIER TRIM PANEL Filed Oct. 22, 193.?l 2Sheets-Sheet 1 gmc/ww@ Golm/w55 J .fi

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MMWW? May 5, 1936. G. E. GAGNIER v TRIM PANEL FiledOct. 22, 1932 Patented May 5, 1936 TRIM PANEL George E. Gagnier,Detroit, Mich., assignor of one-half to Bion C. Place, Detroit, Mich.

Application October 22, 1932, Serial No. 639,064

7 Claims. (Cl. 45-138) 'I'his invention relates 'to trim panels for the.interior of automobile bodies or the like. More particularly, theinvention relates to an improved trim panel presenting a novelarrangement for securing the fasteners that attach the panel to thesupporting structure, and ornamental characteristics of enhanceddurability.

Automobile or similar trim panels are now generally applied to -theinterior of automobile bodies by means of fasteners that are assembledwith respect to the trim panel after the fabric covering, usuallyassociated therewith, has been applied to one face thereof. Thisarrangement requires the formation of relatively large openings in thebody of the panel to permit the pas- Sage of the enlarged heads of thefasteners there.

through so that they can be brought into engagement with the side of thefoundation or body that is remote from that which contacts with thesupporting structure. The formation of the necessary large fastenerreceiving openings in the body of the panel has tended to weaken thepanel and is regarded as objectionable in some quarters. Furthermore,when the fastener receiving openings are formed through -the body of thepanel, and the heads of the fastener are located between the body andthe fabric covering so that there is no stiff material to protect thehead from direct contact with the fabric covering material, it sometimeshappens that the fabric becomes torn or that the heads of the fastenersare exposed through wear of the fabric. This is likewise regarded asobjectionable by some persons.

Attempts have been made to overcome the objections to which particularreference has just been made by utilizing metallic strips to reenforcethe perforated margins of the body of the panel, and to protect, invarious ways, the heads of the fasteners that contact with the coveringmaterial. The application of such metallic strips increases the costofproduction of the panels and, inasmuch as the panels assume variousforms. such strips are difficult of application to the foundation orbodies of the panels when they are curved in any part of their outline.

It has also been a common practice in the art vof manufacturing trimpanels to emboss or corrugate the body of the panel to give to thecompleted panel an ornamental effect, the fabric covering, where such isused, being cemented over the raised portions of the body resulting fromsuch embossing or corrugating, so as to provide, in the completed panel,a so-called riser, generally formed in ornamental outline to enhance theappearance of the panel. When the body or foundation of the panel isconstructed of cardboard or any suitable fiber board, as is customary,the embossing or corrugating of the panels has a tendency to weaken thefiber board wlhere the corrugations are formed, with the result thatwhen the corrugated panels are subjected to blows, as by the foot of anoccupant of the automobile, the corrugation is permanently flattened,thus substantially marring the ap- 10 pearance of the trim panel, andpermanently disguring the same.

This invention has for its primary purpose the provision of a trim panelthat may be constructed entirely of aber board, but that has thefastener receiving openings formed in such a way that the panelpossesses adequate strength adjacent the margins thereof and in whichthe heads of the fasteners are separated from the fabric that isordinarily used to cover the panel by a layer of fiber board, and inwhich the corrugation or embossing of the panel is accomplished in sucha way that the panel as a whole is not materially weakened, and so thatany riser produced by the corrugating is permanently maintained inelevated condition even if subjected to severe blows tending to flattenit.

Another object of this invention is to prof` duce an automobile trimpanel or the like in which the body of the panel is constructed of aplurality of layers of ber board adherently secured together, as bycementingthem in contact with each other at all points, and in which thelaminated character of the body of the panel is concealed by turning theedges of the fabric covering around the exposed edges of the severallaminations or layers.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automobile trim panelconsisting of two layers of relatively thin fiber board, one layer alonebeing embossed or corrugated to provide, in the completed panel, thedesired ornamental riser effect while the other is maintained at andsecured to the embossed layer in such a way as to give to the body ofthe panel the desired stiffness and so that the fiat layer may beutilized t'o stiien the embossed layer at the base of the corrugation bybridging the trough resulting from the formation of the corrugation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improvedautomobile trim panel body consisting4 of two layers, one alone of whichis corrugated, and the other of which is utilized to cover y the back ofthe corrugated layer and form a re- ,osaese perforated adjacent themargins of the panel near which the fastener receiving openings aregenerally formed so that the fasteners may be disposed as close to theedges of the foundation or panel as possible.

The fastener receiving openings are such as will permit the passage of aheaded fastener from the rear of the panel after the usual fabriccovering I! has been applied to the front face thereof, l such fabriccovering being, as is customary in the art, provided with marginalportions I3 extending beyond the foundation or body, which portions areturned around'the exposed edges of theA several laminations,constituting the body of thepanel, and cemented, or otherwise suitablysecured against the rear face of the laminations as illustrated.Preferably, the portions i6 are provided with notches I'I so that saidportions .do not cover the fastener openings.

The preferred form of fastener receiving opening is an Vinverted T,including a cross part I8 formed to permit the free passage of the headof the fastener so as to bring said head between the two laminationswhich are not cemented together at the points at which said openings areformed. A relatively narrow slit I8 extends away from the cross part I8,said slit I8 opening into a slightly enlarged, preferably circular,opening 20 so that the fastener may be inserted by tilting the headslightly to permit it to be passed betweenA the laminations and thenmoved along the slit i9\ and rotated through degrees in the circularportion 20 of the opening I4 so as to interlock the fastener withrespect to the inner lamination.

The fastener receiving openings just described may be utilized withfasteners of varying types though they are specially designed for usewith a one piece snap fastener constructed from a single strip of wireby bending the mid-portion thereof to form the head 2I of the fastenerand by bending the ends of the wire to form the shank 22 thereof, such afastener being fully described in Patent 1,679,266, granted July 31,1928. The mode of application of such fastener to the openingsillustrated in the drawings is likewise fully described in Patent1,722,944, granted July 30, 1929, to which reference may be had for afull description.

The method of constructing the trim panel in accordance with the presentinvention will, itis believed, be obvious from the description of thecomponent parts thereof and by reference to the several patents justreferred to. In the completed construction the layer I8 of thefoundation or body is disposed between the fabric I5 and the head 2I ofthe fastener, and the inner layer II, which is alone perforated for thepassage of the fastener, in cooperation with the unperforated layer I0provides a stiff construction adjacent the margins of the panel havingthe requisite strength and stiffness at the margins of the completedpanel where the greater strength is required in view of the fact thatthe fasteners are applied thereto. The layer II may'be secured to thelayer I0 between the points at which the fasteners are applied, thusenhancing the stiffness of the construction. It will be observed furtherthat the riser 23 appearing in the completed panel cannot'be crushed,even if subjected to severe blows, because the wire or strip I3 servesto positively space the elevated portion of the riser from the layer Il,such wire or strip serving to stiifen and strengthen the panel in bothdirections since the risers usually extend transversely as well aslongitudinally of the panel.

If desired, the inner layer II of the panel may be stiffened adjacentthe margins thereof at which the fastener receiving'openings are formedtherein.- Preferably, this is y accomplished by applying metalreenforcing means to the layer i I, preferably on the inside thereof, sothat when said layer is adherently secured to the outer layer Iii, thereenforcement is concealed from view. The reenforcing means may take theform of sheet metallic strips 24 and 25, each of which is provided withopenings 28 punched at spaced points along the edges of the severalstrips so as to provide tongues 21 that may be driven through the brousmaterial II and clenched against Athe outside as indicated at 28, thussecuring the strips firmly to each layer at all points along the lengththereof. Preferably they strip 25 is applied so that it parallels therow of fastener receiving openings but sothat none of said openingsintersect the strip. yStrip 24, however, is preferably applied so thatthe portions I9 and 20 of the fastener receiving openings intersect thestrip, thus greatly strengthening the inner layer or laminations II andpreventing the fasteners from being pulled through said layer. Themetallic reenforcing means for the inner layer of the panel may assumeany other desired form and may, if preferred, be applied to the outsiderather l than between the laminations as above described.

If desired, use may be made of a strip of thin sheet metal to serve asthe means for anchoring the fasteners Ithereto, when it is desired toavoid increasing the thickness of the panel adjacent the margins thereofat the isolated pointsat which the fasteners are applied. When thisarrangement is desired, a sheet metal strip 29 may be applied to theedge of a lamination 30 constructed of relatively thin fiber board. Thestrip 29 preferably is applied so as to straddle the edge of saidlamination, providing a portion 3| lapping one side of the lamination,and a portion 32 lapping the other side thereof. Prior to theapplication of the binding, the laminat-ion 381s provided with openings33 of a size suiiiciently'large to receive the heads of the fastenerwhen in operative position and to permit the fastener to be applied andinterlocked with respect to the portion 32 of the metal binder by meansof a slot 34 including a relatively narrowslit 35 and an enlargedopening 36 communicating therewith. The binder may be secured to the.lamination 30 in-any approver-l manner as by means of prongs struckfrom'the portion 32 by forming the openings 31 therein, the

metal formerly filling said openings being utilized to form the prongs.

The binder 29 is made of a width suiiiciently narrow so that it does notcompletely cover the opening 33 formed in the lamination, so as toprovide a narrow elongated opening permittingr the passage of the headof a fastener into the opening 33 as illustrated. In associating afastener such as illustrated in my Patent 1,679,266, above referred towith the lamination just described, the head 38 of the fastener isengaged beneath the edge of the portion 32 of the binder where it lapsthe opening 33 of the lamination, and the fastener is shifted inposition so that the shank thereof may be passed through the slit 35 ofthe opening 34. until the shank is brought into disposed entirelybetween the inner and outer surfaces of the lamination 30.

While the metallic binder 29 has been illustrated as having substantialthickness, for the purpose of clarity of illustration in the drawings,it` should be understood that the metal selected for this purpose wouldbe very thin so that the edge of the lamination to which the binder isapplied is not materially thickened by the application thereto of suchbinder. However, any increased thickness of the edges of the laminationsresulting from the application of the binder is uniform at every pointalong the margin of the laminations.

When it is desired to use a fastener having a hook-like head, thearrangement illustrated in Figures 9, 10 and 11 may be employed in whichthe binder 29, applied to the lamination 30, is unperforated except forthe formation of the openings 3l formed therein in order to provide theAprongs by which the binder may be attached to the laminations. Saidbinder is applied so as to only partially cover the openings 33 in themanner above described with reference to Figures 7 and 8. Thisarrangement is adapted to receive fasteners including a hook-like head39 and a shank 40 consisting of two legs that are bowed outwardlybetween the head of the fastener and the tip of the shank as indicatedat 4| and 42. Preferably the fastener is constructed from a single pieceof wire by return bending the mid-portion of the wire and then bendingthat portion into the form of a hook. The ends of the wire are thenturned at right anglesto the hook to provide the legsponstituting theshank 40 of the fastener. Such a fastener as just described can beapplied to the lamination by hooking the head upon the portion 32 thatlaps the opening 33 in the lamination by passing the outer arm throughthe narrow slot left by virtue of the fact that the portion 32 does notcompletely cover the opening 33 in the lamination.

While a binder has been illustrated that laps both sid-es of thelamination and that is intended to extend along all of the edgesthereof, it should be understood, however, that the metallic anchoragefor thefasteners may be provided by securing separate strips of metal tothe lamination that may only partially cover one or both sides of thelamination and that do not extend entirely along the .edges thereof asillustrated in Patent #1,904,076. It is only essential that the metallicanchorage for the fastener lap the openings 33 in the laminations so asto permit the head to be passed to the rear of 'the metallic anchorage,and so that the thickness of the head is disposed between the inner andouter surfaces of the lamination as illustrated in Patent #1,904,077.

The lamination 30 provided with the metallic fastener anchoring means ofthe character just described may be used in association with otherlaminations to complete the panel. For instance, the lamination 30 maybe used as illustrated in Figure 12 of the drawings in which thelamination 3D provided with the metallic reenfcrcement 29 applied asjust described, may be adhesively secured to a second lamination 43which may be entirely unperforated. A fabric covering of suitablefinishing material 44 covers the unperforated layer 43 and is lappedaround the edges of the panel and secured as by a suitable cement orbinder to the rear edges of the panel as indicated at 45, thusconcealing the edges of the several laminations of which the panel iscomposed.

It will be readily understood that vthe panel may be completed in theform illustrated in Figure 12 prior to the application of the fasteners,and that, in fact, it is the intended mode of use of the panelillustrated in this figure to apply the fasteners. after the panel hasbeen completely constructed in the fonn illustrated, the fasteners beingsubsequently associated with respect to the binder 23 applied to thelamination 30 in a manner just described with reference to Figures 'Iand 8 or with reference to Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11.v

If desired, the panel illustrated in Figure 12 may include a thirdlamination 4B provided with an opening 41 that registers with theopening 33 in the lamination 30, thus providing a panel constructionconsisting of three laminations of fiber board and a, metallic stripconstituting the means for anchoring the fastener to the panel. Thisarrangement provides a panel structure of great strength and rigidity,and when a fastener having a hook-like head of the kind illustrated inFigures 9, 10 and 11 is used, it will be understood that the outer partof the hook is disposed within the opening 41 while the inner part ofthe hook is disposed in the opening 33 of the lamination 30, so thatsubstantially the entire thickness of thehead of the fastener is locatedbev tween the outer planes that bound the intermediate lamination andthe inner lamination, so that the thickness of the panel is notincreased by the thickness of the head of thefastener that is engagedtherewith.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential rcharacteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrativeand not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be securedl byV United States LettersPatent is:-

l. A trim panel consisting of a layer of relatively stiff fibrousmaterial embossed to secure ornamentation, and a second unembossed layerof relatively stiff fibrous material adherently secured to said ilrstnamed layer so as to bridge the depressions formed by the embossingthereof so as to resist flattening of the embossed layer and a cover offlexible material for one face of said panel lapping the edges of saidlayers.

2. A trim panel comprising a sheet of relatively stiff fibrous materialcorrugated to secure'ornamentation, a reenforcing strip disposed inthechannel formed by the corrugation, relatively stiff material adherentlysecured to said sheet so as to bridge said channel and retain said striptherein and a fabric cover for the exposed face of said sheet.

3. A trim panel comprising a sheet of relatively stii fibrous materialcorrugated to secure ornamentation, a reenforcing strip disposed in thechannel formed by the corrugation, and a second sheet of relativelystiff fibrous material coextensive with and adherently secured to saidfirst named sheet so as to bridge said channel, retain said striptherein and stiiien said first named sheet at all points.

4. A trim' panel comprising two layers of fibrous material, fastenerreceiving openings in one of said layers, corrugations in the otherlayer, said layers being secured together so that the fastener openingsare out of registry with the corrugations whereby each layer strengthensthe other where weakened by the formation of said openings or by saidcorrugations.

5. A trim panel comprising a relatively stiff fibrous layer providedwith a riser in the form of a corrugation pressed therein, a reenforcingstrip in said corrugation, and a second layer of stiff fibrous materialto retain said strip in said corrugation. y

6. A trim panel foundation consisting of a layer of relatively stifffibrous material embossed to secure ornamentation, a second layer ofrelato said rst named layer and having at portions bridging thedepression formed by the em'- bossment of said flrst named layer, 'andfastener receiving openings in said second layer spaced from saidembossment.

7. A trim panel foundation consisting of a layer of relatively stiifibrous material embossed to secure ornamentation, means tosubstantially fill the hollow in said layer formed by the embossment ofsaid layer, a second layer of relatively stifl fibrous materialadherently secured to said rst named layer and retaining. said means insaid hollow.

GEORGE E. GAGNIER.

